The age of Pericles is regarded as the golden age in European history. Similarly in India which period is considered as the golden age?

Option 2 : Gupta period

The correct answer is Gupta period

The period of Gupta rule between 300 and 600 CE has been called the Golden Age of India for its advances in science and emphasis on classical Indian art and literature

• Gupta empire:
  • Sri Gupta founded the Gupta Empire and was succeeded by his son, Ghatotkacha, followed by Ghatotkacha’s son, Chandragupta and his son, Samudragupta, assumed the throne in 335 CE, who was succeeded by his son, Chandragupta II,
  • The period of Gupta rule, especially the reign of Chandragupta II, is still remembered as the Golden Age of India
  • Why Gupta period is called a golden period?
    • Production of extensive literature.  
      • Chandragupta’s court was more influential than those that came before or after because it contained the Navaratnas, or the Nine Jewels, a group of nine scholars who produced advancements in many academic fields.
      • For example, Kalidasa was the greatest poet of classical Sanskrit literature and wrote Abhijnanashakuntalam which is very highly regarded in world literature even today and he was from this period.
      • Patronage was also given to the composition of religious literature. The two great epics the Ramayana and the Mahabharata were completed by the fourth century AD.
    • Achievements of Indians in the fields of mathematics, astronomy, science:
      • ​The decimal numeral system, including the concept of zero, was invented in India during this period.
      • Varahamihira was an astronomer, astrologer, and mathematician, whose main work is a treatise on mathematical astronomy. Sushruta, a famed Indian physician of the Gupta period, wrote the Samhita, 
      • The cultural creativity of the Gupta empire:
      • This period produced magnificent architecture, including palaces and temples, as well as sculptures and paintings of the highest quality.
      • The Golden Age of India produced many temples, decorated with various sculptures and paintings,
      • such as the Dashavatara Temple, also known as the Vishnu Temple, in central India.

• The Maurya Empire 
  • The real founder of this empire was Chandragupta Maurya.
  • It was a geographically extensive Iron Age historical power in South Asia based in Magadha, 
  • The Maurya Empire was centralized by the conquest of the Indo-Gangetic Plain, and its capital city was located at Pataliputra 
• The Mughal Empire 
  • It was founded by Babur (reigned 1526–1530)
  • The empire stretched from the outer fringes of the Indus basin in the west, northern Afghanistan in the northwest, and Kashmir in the north Bangladesh in the east, and the uplands of the Deccan plateau in South India.
• The Vijayanagara Empire,
  • It is also called the Karnata Kingdom,
  • It was based in the Deccan Plateau region in South India.
  • It was established in 1336 by the brothers Harihara I and Bukka Raya I of the Sangama dynasty
  • The noted ruler of this period was King Krishnadevaraya